The trend of remote work is nothing new. Even in the early days of dial-up internet, companies offered jobs that allowed people to work from home. What has changed is the speed and flexibility that remote employees can enjoy, and that’s turned remote work into a major force in the software development world.
As a manager of an entirely distributed team, I’ve seen first-hand how this kind of modern arrangement can work. But of course, there are challenges when it comes to leading a group of remote employees, and not every culture or product decision you make will prove to be positive.
In this post, we’ll cover the major areas of being a team manager for a distributed workforce. Building a productive company without face-to-face interaction is possible with the right people, processes, tools, and strategy.
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1. Hire the Right Team
At the end of the day, the success of any team is dependent on the individuals who comprise it. As a manager, the best thing you can do is figure out how to hire a diverse group of people who can consistently contribute. This is especially critical in the software industry, where the workload can’t be handled by a single person, and projects are completed by teams who design, code, and test.
My team was tasked with building a new intelligent marketing platform that would be capable of managing email subscriptions and campaigns. The technology stack was determined ahead of time, so we knew we’d be using a cloud-based environment with a SQL back-end and JavaScript front-end. But pulling together the right team members was not as simple as sifting through resumes based on a specific skill.
We found the interview process to be critical to our team’s success. Even if a candidate will be fully remote, it is still worthwhile to conduct part of the interview in person if possible, which allows you to ask open-ended questions in a group setting and see how their mind works when it comes to real-time problem-solving.
Read More: How to Implement a Welcoming Software Developer Onboarding Process
2. Develop a Communication Standard
When managing a team of software developers who are distributed across the globe, there will obviously be challenges when it comes to communication.
Being able to walk over and start a conversation with a coworker is the traditional way most in-person teams build culture and cohesion. For remote employees, you just need to get more creative.
Fortunately, fast internet speeds and new tools have made it easy to stay in touch over the internet. In fact, sometimes the number of options can be overwhelming. For that reason, our team found it important to set a communication standard so that all members know the expectations involved.
Slack has emerged as a leader in messaging and real-time collaboration, especially in the software industry, and particularly for remote teams. In addition to chatrooms and direct text messages, our team uses it to run audio calls and videoconferencing, which allow employees to see and hear each other.
3. Maintain a Product Strategy
Software programming is a perfect match for distributed teams because, even though collaboration is required, writing and testing code requires more than a little independence and quiet time. The only problem is that if you let a team of brilliant developers go off and work on a project separately, you’ll struggle to keep them all focused on the same goal.
Every development team needs a strong product manager to coordinate the strategy and delivery timelines. On top of that, you’ll have to know how to write product requirement documentation developers are able to understand.
When choosing amongst a list of popular email marketing services, we had a clear list of milestones and deadlines that would push our service out to customers on time. Product management is a never-ending activity, especially when trying to keep remote employees on the same page.
Read More: How to Be an Engineering Manager Your Company & Team Respects
4. Stay Agile
Agile remains the predominant approach to software development. The concept is to keep your work as flexible as possible to meet the needs of customers and users. Priorities can change in a hurry, and the most successful teams are able to adapt on the fly.
When it comes to managing remote developers, there is a tendency to micromanage. Since you can’t monitor their progress and performance in person, you may be tempted to bug them for continuous status updates or want to review every line of code they write.
What we’ve found works best is a daily stand-up meeting routine where everyone gets on an audio or video call at the same time each workday. It should be a short meeting, where team members share what they have accomplished and what they are working on next.
During this time, the product manager should also make regular announcements related to strategy or deadlines. Agility is key to staying flexible.
5. Prioritize Culture
Sometimes a remote developer can feel almost invisible. Most of the day is spent independently, with the group coming together for an occasional meeting or discussion in Slack.
How do you avoid losing camaraderie among your employees? The key is to prioritize culture at a management level.
You want your team members to get to know one another and feel some sort of connection to the company as a whole. Even if they can’t meet someone at the water cooler for a quick chat, you can use a set of virtual spaces in communication tools for the same sort of thing.
We’ve found that our distributed developers often have a lot more in common than they realize. This point was also stressed by Matt Mullenweg, founder of Automattic (the largest distributed/remote company on the planet), in a recent podcast discussion about remote work: culture is key to attracting and retaining top talent.
Read More: How to Create a Remote Work Culture That’s Supportive, Positive & Fun
Final Thoughts
For some, telecommuting to work is a compelling prospect. It saves time, money, and the frustration of commuting.
A major bonus is that you don’t have to focus your job search in a specific geographical area, thus making your talent available to a wider range of companies and industries and, oh, by the way, maybe resulting in a larger paycheck.
As a manager working with a team of all remote employees for the first time, it can be a strange experience. There is a real danger of disconnect from their work and daily routines.
But with the right tools and procedures, you’ll find that working with a distributed team just might lead to higher productivity across the board.
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In a traditional “co-located” office environment, a manager can assess the status of the team by simply walking around, observing, and talking to employees. This allows him or her to stay on top of developing problems by direct observation and intervening before it spirals out of control.